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The Latest: White House hails 'important step' on tax bill
The Latest on Republican tax overhaul legislation (all times local):
4:10 p.m.
The White House is praising the House Ways and Means Committee for approving the Republican Party's tax cut package.
Press secretary Sarah Sanders calls Thursday's party-line vote an "important step toward providing historic tax relief for the American people." The legislation now goes to the full House.
The House GOP proposal dramatically cuts corporate taxes, doubles the personal standard deduction, and simplifies the tax code by eliminating a host of tax breaks. Senate Republicans released their own version of the legislation Thursday.
After the failure of Republican efforts to repeal the Obama health care law, tax reform remains the only potential big-ticket legislative accomplishment for President Donald Trump's first year in office.
Sanders says the administration remains "confident" the tax bill will pass this year.
3:30 p.m.
A House panel has approved far-reaching Republican legislation to deeply cut taxes for corporations, double the personal standard deduction and simplify the tax code.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted 24-16 along party lines to deliver the complex measure to the full House. It would shrink the number of income brackets from seven to four. The Republicans promote the nearly $6 trillion measure as a boon to the middle class. Democrats say it's a tax bounty for the rich.
Republicans are pushing to drive the legislation through Congress and get it to President Donald Trump by Christmas.
The bill would reduce personal taxes for many but also limit deductions for homeowners and end them for people with steep medical bills and student loans. It would increase the child tax credit.
3:00 p.m.
Senate Republicans are joining Washington's tax debate with a proposal to slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent and cutting the top individual rate for the wealthy by about 1 percentage point.
The plan unveiled Thursday differs from a companion House measure in key respects by preserving the home mortgage interest deduction, a tax credit for adoption expenses, and a deduction for people slammed by high medical expenses.
The measure unveiled by the Senate Finance Committee faces a vote by that panel next week and a floor vote in December.
The bill would create seven tax brackets for individuals with the top rate set at 38.5 percent for top earners. Every tax filer would get a $24,000 standard deduction, meaning far fewer people would itemize deductions on their returns.
2:02 p.m.
House Republicans are restoring the adoption tax credit to their overhaul legislation after protests by family advocate groups and other interests.
The amendment to the legislation by Rep. Kevin Brady, chair of the House's tax-writing committee, proposes other complex changes to the bill nearing approval by the panel, including an array of business tax proposals which would in some cases further reduce tax rates.
The bill would steeply cut taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals, and double the standard deduction used by most average Americans. It retains its partial repeal of the federal deduction for state and local income and property taxes.
Brady's proposal comes as the Senate unveiled its version of the tax overhaul, keeping the current deduction for up to $1 million in interest paid on mortgages. The House bill reduces that to $500,000 for new home purchases.
1:50 p.m.
The Senate's version of the GOP tax overhaul bill would leave a tax deduction for expenses associated with adopting children alone while providing a slightly larger per-child tax credit of $1,650 than the House measure.
Sen. John Hoeven also told reporters that the top tax rate for individuals, currently set at 39.6 percent, would drop to 38.5 percent under the draft Senate measure.
The South Dakota Republican said the measure also preserves existing clean energy tax incentives such as for electricity production from wind. It preserves a tax credit for electric cars as well.
The Senate bill also proposes seven tax brackets rather than the three brackets proposed under the House tax bill.
The House measure proposes increasing the per-child tax credit to $1,600 and making it available to a greater number of upper middle-class families.
12:45 p.m.
The emerging Senate tax overhaul measure wouldn't touch the mortgage interest deduction, as a concession to the powerful real estate lobby.
That's according to a Senate GOP source familiar with the details on the legislation being released Thursday afternoon.
The move means homebuyers would still to be able to deduct interest payments on loans of up to $1 million as permitted under current law. The House bill would reduce the limit to $500,000.
The real estate industry warns that would hurt the housing market, especially in more affluent areas.
The measure also would delay a cut to in the corporate tax rate to 20 percent until 2019.
The GOP source was not authorized to discuss the measure before it is public and spoke on condition of anonymity.
3:29 a.m.
The Senate version of the Republicans' tax overhaul is set to be unveiled with billions in tax cuts for people and corporations, repeal of the federal deduction for state and local taxes, and a likely compression of the personal income tax brackets from seven to four.
The House measure, meanwhile, nears approval by the tax-writing committee after last-minute changes by its primary author.
The legislation pulling the attention of lawmakers in both chambers would bring the first major reshaping of the U.S. tax code in three decades.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch plans to take the wraps off the new Senate bill on Thursday. In the House, Ways and Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady was making changes before the panel votes Thursday to deliver it to the full House.


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I knew i missed few updates here for the last few months. The reason, i am certified workaholic and that with the presence of a new writing hub then i don't think i will have extra time for updates on my sites, but still i can manage to give most of my sites a note whenever i can. It's really hard to maintain multiple sites and three of them are niche sites. Composing post ideas is something that is hard for me to do, since i am already exhausted withe the writing hub i am apart with. Hopefully, this month i will be more focus and give extra time to my sites.
Well, everything is so worth it. I don't regret sleeping late and creating a lot of articles and post everyday since i can reap a nice end. This November, i really wish i can manage my time pretty well. Which mean, i can put extra effort in all of my sites.

subset: commoncrawl


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NFL officials are talking about revamping the tuck rule.
Dean Blandino, the league's director of officiating, said in a video distributed to the media that the NFL's Competition Committee plans to review the tuck rule, which was made famous on January 19, 2002, when an apparent Tom Brady fumble was overturned to an incomplete pass, paving the way for the Patriots to beat the Raiders en route to New England's first Super Bowl title.
"This is going to be part of a bigger discussion in the offseason of QB pass/fumbles and the tuck rule with the Competition Committee," Blandino said. "This will be discussed in the offseason."
Blandino referenced a play on Sunday when Colts quarterback Andrew Luck was first ruled to have fumbled when he was hit from behind and lost the ball -- a ruling that was overturned on replay when the referee called it an incomplete pass. Blandino said the referee's ruling was based on a belief that Luck was purposely bringing his hand forward in an attempt to throw a pass, and did not have his hand pushed forward when he was hit from behind.
"It was ruled on the field a fumble and the key here is the tuck rule," Blandino said. "The rule is, if the quarterback brings his arm up to throw in an obvious passing motion, any intentional forward movement of the hand with control of the football will constitute a forward pass. That's the rule."
At least, that's the rule for now. It might not remain the rule for much longer.


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Windows Phone photography apps for the shutterbug in all of us
Windows Phone Central Roundup: Photography Apps
We've focused on photography apps in previous Windows Phone Central roundups and with the release of the Nokia Lumia 1020 with its 41MP PureView camera, we thought it was fitting to roundup a few more photo apps.
And there are plenty photo apps in the Windows Phone Store. You have alternatives for the native Windows Phone camera app, editing apps, apps to let you share your photos and apps to let you discover photos. The selection is so rich, it's hard to just install one on your Windows Phone or narrow the field for a round up. This week we highlight two older photography apps that have undergone major updates and two new kids on the block. Some are editors, some are camera app alternatives and some are a little bit of everything.
But all are worth trying.
Fotor (free): We've mentioned Fotor before and choose to add it to the roundup because it was recently updated with a major overhaul.
Fotor is a feature rich photo editor and collage maker for your Windows Phone 8 device. The app can fine tune existing photos in your Pictures Hub or you can launch the native Windows Phone camera app and edit a newly captured image.
Editing tools include your basics such as cropping, rotating, as well as adjustments for brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. Along with the basic editing tools you can add borders, add effects filters from nine categories such as lomo, retro, art and more. You also have a tilt shift tool for added effect. If you're in a rush or just need an easy way to fine-tune your photos, there is a one touch enhance button that has three levels of automatic adjustments.
On the collage end of things you have templates ranging from 2-9 photos and three aspect ratios to build your collages from. You can edit the border color and styles (shadow, rounded corners, etc.) of the collages as well.
Images and collages can be shared directly from Fotor by your typical Windows Phone methods (sms, email, tap/send, etc.) as well as any third party app that supports sharing.
Overall, we find Fotor to be a very appealing photo editor for your Windows Phone 8 device. Fotor is a free app and you can find it here in the Windows Phone Store.
OneShot (trial/$1.99): OneShot is a relatively new photography app for our Windows Phone 8 devices. It's primarily a camera app alternative but includes a few real-time filters to help jazz up your photos. OneShot is also taps into Nokia's Imaging SDK.
Camera controls line the side of the viewfinder and covers flash controls, ISO, focus (manual/auto), shutter speed, scenes, and white balance. You also have processing controls for contrast, brightness, and saturation.
OneShot also has a virtual horizon indicator (to help you keep the photo level), a viewfinder grid (rule of thirds), and a steady detection mode. The steady detection mode places an indicator bar at the top of your viewfinder that will shift in color between green, yellow and red. If you have a steady hold of your camera, the indicator will be green. Depending how unsteady you are, the indicator will be yellow or red.
OneShot isn't a bad option to consider if you want more control over your Windows Phone camera. While OneShot is compatible with all Windows Phone 8 devices, by tapping into the Nokia Imaging SDK makes it a nice fit for the Lumia line of phones.
There is a free trial version for OneShot that gives you full access to the controls but you can't save images. The full version of OneShot is currently running $1.99 and you can find it here at the Windows Phone Store.
Fhotoroom (free): Fhotoroom has been around for a while and has been updated a lot. Updates to improve things, not so much to fix things. The latest series of updates have delivered a new user interface for Fhotoroom along with new editing tools. As with Fotor, we've covered Fhotoroom before but felt with the improvements this photography app has received, it deserved another round in the spotlight.
In a nutshell, Fhotoroom is a photo editor, camera app and social network for sharing photos. While you can sign up to share your images with other Fhotoroom members, it's not required to enjoy the editing tools and camera app.
As far as editing capabilities are concerned, Fhotoroom has the basic editing tools such as cropping, rotation, exposure adjustments (sharpness, saturation, white balance, contrast, etc.), and resize. You also have over fifty effects filters, a tilt shift tool, and frames.
As far as the camera application is concerned you have a burst mode, self timer, exposure compensation, flash controls, time lapse settings and three scenes (macro, scenic, and portrait).
Edited images can be saved to your Windows Phone or Skydrive as well as shared on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (via Instagraph).
Fhotoroom may be the oldest app in this week's roundup but it is still definitely a goodie. Fhotoroom is a free app and is compatible with both Windows Phone 8 and 7.x devices. You can find Fhotoroom here in the Windows Phone Store.
Hipstamatic Oggl Pro (free): Hipstamatic Oggl Pro is a Windows Phone 8 photography app that is an exclusive to the Nokia Lumia 1020. For the non-Lumia 1020 Windows Phone, you have Hipstamatic Oggl. The non-Pro version is essentially the same, with Oggl Pro tapping into the Nokia camera SDK giving it full access to the camera controls on the Lumia 1020's camera.
So what is Oggl? Described as a "Community for creative people to capture and curate their lives through photography" Oggl is a camera application that allows you to capture, edit and share your photographs through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (with Instagram's blessings by the way).
The camera app can be set for pre-set scenes (landscape, portrait, night, food and sunset) as well as manual overrides for exposure compensation, white balance, ISO and shutter speed.
Creative filters sum up the editing aspect of Oggl with a small selection of gears available with the free version. Gears include different lens effects and film effects. You can subscribe to Oggl's services for $2.99 a quarter or $9.99 annually and have access to a ton of gears. Gears can only be applied to newly captured images and not existing images in your Pictures Hub.
Again, captured images can be shared through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or within the Oggl network. It's an interesting Windows Phone 8 photography app that will appeal to many. Not sure how well the annual or quarterly fee to access the full catalog of lens and film effects will go over but it's a rather extensive catalog.
Hipstamatic Oggl is a fee app for Windows Phone 8 devices that you can find here in the Windows Phone Store. Oggl Pro is an exclusive free app for the Nokia Lumia 1020 and you can find it here in the Nokia Collection of the Store.
Being someone who has spent a lot of time behind a camera, it is nice to see the development of Windows Phone photography apps and cameras progress so nicely. The Windows Phone Store has such a selection of quality photography apps that it is truly hard to just have one photography app on your Windows Phone.
We've only scratched the surface on what photography apps are available for our Windows Phone. You have HDR Photo, Nokia's Pro Cam and Creative Studio, Fantasia Painter, Photosynth, ProShot and Instance just to name a few. We try to limit these roundups to four, maybe five titles otherwise we'd be writing for weeks on all the quality photo apps out there. You can also grab that all at once through Nokia's App Social.
If you have a "can't live without it" Windows Phone photography app that we missed, sound off in the comments below.
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George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.


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June 29, 2006
Meebo - All-in-one Online Instant Messenger
Meebo is an Ajax site that lets you chat online with your friends that use Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, AIM, ICQ and Jabber (including Google Talk). You can log into all the IM networks simultaneously from your browser. If you don't want to create a Meebo account, you can get into one IM network at a time.
If you don't use VOIP or video chat features from the desktop clients, if you think they use too many resources and you don't like Gaim and Trillian, Meebo is the way to go. If you are at a public PC or at a computer that doesn't have Yahoo Messenger or the other IM applications or if the firewall blocks them, Meebo can help you get in touch with your friends.
I know what you're thinking: is it secure? Meebo encrypts passwords with 1024-bit RSA keys and decrypts them server-side using OpenSSL. If you want to encrypt all the traffic between you and Meebo servers you can choose https://www.meebo.com that uses SSL, but it's slower.
Gaim review
Yahoo Messenger 8 has plug-ins
Windows Live Messenger is out of beta
Tips for Google Talk
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Carrot Cake Crisps
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup finely grated carrot
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted
1/3 cup crushed pineapple
1/3 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously coat cookie sheets with cooking spray.
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, brown sugar and maple syrup until creamy - about 1-2 minutes; beat in vanilla and egg until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until combined. Beat in carrot, coconut, pecans, pineapple and raisins until combined.
Drop flat, round spoonfuls of batter onto cookie sheets, about an inch apart. Bake 25-30 minutes or until light golden brown and firm. Turn oven off and leave cookies in oven for 1 hour or until crisp. Cool on wire racks.
Makes 20 cookies


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Cabin & apartment | At the foot of the mountain Torghatten, beautifully situated. About 15-20 min by car to Brønnøysund city centre. The facility has cabins and apartments with 2 bedrooms, showers and WC. Sites for mobile homes and caravans.
Torghatten StrandRestaurant
Fine dining restaurant at the waterfront. Customised menu each evening based on fresh fish from the Helgeland region.
Serving between 18:00 and 21:00. 6 course menu.In the summer season the restaurant is open every day (approximately June - mid-August - see website), but we recommend reservations. Outside the summer season it is open to order.


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No matter how far Andy Roddick goes at the U.S. Open, at least he'll go out in style.
Right now all eyes are on the 30 year old as he makes his final run at Flushing Meadows; however, they should also be on his patriotic footwear.
While on the blue and green Arthur Ashe Court it's tough to miss the American's contrasting red, white, and blue sneakers adorned with stars and stripes.
The Babolat Propulse 3 isn't a new shoe. Roddick showed off his stars and stripes kicks at the London Olympics.
If you haven't noticed the patriotic sneakers yet, take a look:
On Arthur Ashe Kids' Day:
Here's a closer look at them mid-air during the Olympics:
@USOpen passed around this photo on Twitter in support of Andy:


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1. Introduction to the Miracles of Jesus
When something amazing happens, we often say, "It's a miracle!" But more than likely that is not technically correct. It was not a true miracle. It was amazing, it was abnormal, etc., but was it a miracle?
What is a miracle?
(1) A scientist gave the following definition of a miracle on an April 14, 1995 PBS program. He said, "A miracle is nothing more than a natural law not discovered." So, he doesn't believe in miracles. He thinks everything can be explained scientifically. This is an attitude which at the least denies any intervention into our world by God, and more than likely means that scientist denies the existence of God.1 I don't see how raising someone from the dead, restoring a blind man's sight, etc. are natural laws not yet discovered. This is obviously a bad definition. The fact that anyone would take this guy seriously is a sad commentary on our society.
(2) A computer magazine had the following definition in its word-for-the-day section: "Coincidence is a miracle where God chooses to remain anonymous." In other words, there is no such thing as coincidence. This elevates almost everything to the status of being a miracle. I would have to go along with the idea that there is no such thing as coincidence or chance. If there is such a thing as chance, then God has an equal out there in the universe, against which He is competing. Think about that statement for a minute. If there is such a thing as chance, then God has an equal out there in the universe that He is competing against. In other words, God is not in control. So, although I think that God is control and is involved in our lives, does that mean that these events are miracles? No.
These two illustrations represent opposite extremes. The truth is somewhere in the middle. What is a miracle?
If we look at the words the New Testament uses for miracles we see the following:
(1) It is an act of a supernatural being. The word dunamis has the idea of a supernatural power. It speaks primarily of the agent of the act. That power may be delegated to a human agent. The question is where did Jesus' power to do the miracle come from. There are two options - either from God or from Satan. Obviously, Jesus' power came from God. Some suggest that Satan only imitates miracles. I think Satan can perform miracles. He does not have divine power, but he does have supernatural power. So the idea from the word dunamis is that there is supernatural power involved.
(2) Another word - terasa - speaks of the effect. A miracle is an unusual event. Terasa speaks of the wonderment of the event – as in signs and wonders. As a matter of fact, terasa is always used with semeion.
(3) The Greek word semeion means sign. A miracle is a significant event. It has purpose. Matthew, Mark and Luke uses the first two more. John uses the word semion, because he is focused on the purpose of Jesus in performing the miracles.
(4) Therefore, in our search for a definition, if we combine the ideas of these words used in the New Testament, we might come up with the following definition:
Definition: A miracle is an unusual and significant event (terasa) which requires the working of a supernatural agent (dunamis) and is performed for the purpose of authenticating the message or the messenger (semeion).
I don't want to imply that God can't do a miracle without a miracle worker or that He can only do miracles when He needs to authenticate His message. But, examination of Old Testament and New Testament miracles shows that when a human is the agent performing a miracle, the purpose is authentication of the person and his message. For example: Moses, Elijah, Jesus, Apostles… That is the norm. It is a little oxymoronic to use the words norm and miracles in the same sentence, but I think it is important to establish what the norm is if possible because of what various people teach concerning miracles.
What do people teach concerning miracles? I don't think a study on the miracles of Jesus would be complete if we didn't take a little time to look at what's going on today and examine what is being taught by various groups in the church concerning miracles. But I'm not quite ready to dive into that discussion. I've been doing much reading and studying on the arguments from both sides and although I've come to my conclusion. I haven't organized my thoughts well enough to explain it right now. Hopefully in a few weeks we can take a break from the study of the miracles and study the arguments. For now we will begin our study of the miracles. First though, we need to learn how to study the miracles.
Many people go to the Bible looking primarily for theological statements or propositional statements—statements that tell us what not to do, what to do, what to think, etc. Historically, Americans pastors and theologians have spent little time teaching or preaching the Gospels. Americans are practical, bottom line people and the Pauline and General epistles are easier to dig practical principles out of. They don't typically know what to do with the Gospels because the Gospels are not very propositional. They are really a collection of small stories arranged to tell a bigger story about the life of Christ. The accounts of the miracles Jesus performed are contained in stories, and stories have context, characters, plot, climax, etc. Stories are literature, and in order to understand them, we need to look at the miracles literarily.
We will study the miracles following the usual steps of observation, interpretation and application, but since the miracles are stories, we will need to look at things like plot, character development, etc. to understand them fully.
A. Observation
1. Passage
We need to determine which gospel or gospels record the miracle? Sometimes it is difficult to tell if two Gospels are telling the same miracle or if they are just similar miracles. If we decide that they are the same event, which is the longest account of the miracle? That is the one we will use primarily for the study and then pull in the extra details we learn from other parallel passages to supplement the longest passage. What you will notice is that different gospel writers stressed certain things because they were writing to different audiences or have a different theological point to make. Because of these differences, many critics point to the differences in the miracle accounts to show that the Bible is full of errors. We will discuss these differences and try to determine why they exist. Sometimes we will understand why, other times we may not. That doesn't mean the Bible has errors. My assumption is that the Bible is true and I haven't figured it out yet. The critic's assumption is that the Bible is full of errors and that is what he sees.
2. Progression
One of the most helpful things in studying narrative literature (stories), is learning to track the progression of thought in the narrative. The progression is the strongest thread that ties the story together as a creative whole. One might follow the progression:
- geographically - eg. Peter in the boat, out of the boat, on the shore, etc.
- logically - With a logical progression there is a cause/effect relationship. For example, the theological principles explained in Eph. 1-3 result in a certain lifestyle (Eph 4-6). Theological -> practical. Or perhaps within one miracle account you might notice that Jesus' miracle caused different reactions in the healed person, the bystanders, the Pharisees and disciples.
- biographically - the focus is on people or conversations
- ideologically - a concept, idea or truth that is emphasized
- chronologically - like the parable of the vineyard workers
3. Context
a. Historical context
What we know from knowledge of the culture will affect our understanding and interpretation. For example, in the healing of the leper or lepers, it helps to know how awful leprosy was, how it was viewed spiritually and as far as we can tell, that nobody had ever been cured of leprosy – except for Marion, Moses' sister and Namaan the Syrian who was healed by Elisha. If lepers are being healed now, then something out of the ordinary is going on! It should have been a clear sign that God was here!
b. Literary context
What do we know from the preceding or following context. What was Jesus talking about in His last conversation? Did He just preach a sermon? What was the point of that sermon? Perhaps the miracle illustrates the point. What statements is the author making about Jesus? Does this miracle relate to that? For example, when Jesus heals the blind man in two stages (Mark 8:22), it does not mean that Jesus' power was inadequate for the task. He healed the man in two stages to illustrate the partial understanding of the disciples as to whom Jesus really was. You have to understand the larger literary and theological context of the book of Mark as well as have been tracking the disciples' development along the way in order to understand that. So, although the immediate literary context is important, sometimes the larger context is also very important.
B. Interpretation
What does it mean theologically? Ask three questions:
1. What was the meaning for the Jews who saw the miracle?
2. What was the meaning for the disciples?
3. What was the meaning for the person healed?
I think that there is only one correct interpretation. There will be different subcategories of meaning for each question asked, but I think there is a right answer. By that, I mean that the author had some point in mind when he recorded the miracle. We will try to determine that. If we come to a different conclusion than someone else, then I think one of us is wrong. If we are wrong, then it is because we did poor observation or have some theological bias. In our age of relativism and no absolutes, this is not a popular concept. But I think it is a correct concept. Once we have determined the theological meaning we move to the next step.
C. Application
What does it mean to me? Although there may be only one interpretation, there can be many applications.
Summary of the process:
We need to study the events of the miracle (observation), determine what truths it teaches (interpretation) and then determine how the truths apply to us (application).
1 This attitude can be traced back into the period of the Enlightenment and received one of its most cogent arguments in the philosopher David Hume. For a brief description of Hume's arguments, especially as they touch on the issue of the resurrection, see Greg Herrick, The Historical Veracity of the Resurrection Narratives, www.bible.org.
Related Topics: Miracles


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Tag Archives: Alexa
"Beam me up, Scotty ", says Captain Kirk to his chief engineer, and the next thing we see is Kirk's body disappearing from Planet X and reappearing on the starship. "Wow", you think "I wish we could do that for real. The places I would travel to….." Well, we are not there yet – but with the rapid development of electronic devices, Internet, ERP and the digital age in general, I wouldn't be surprised if we could build a beamer that powerful within the next 10 years. A university in Germany that concentrates in IT systems engineering, already came up with a machine that can scan an object, transmit it over the internet and rebuild it using a 3D printer in a new location. Imagine you can do that in retail: Sit on your sofa buying a handbag with one click on your device and 20 minutes later it appears magically at your doorstep. Cool, right? But is it really that far off? No, to tell you the truth, it is not even considered to be science fiction anymore. We already buy things with one click, we just need to wait a bit longer than 20 minutes right now to receive the product. But wait – isn't Amazon already testing delivery by drone? So who knows, the time of purchase to delivery in 20 minutes could actually happen sooner than you think. Especially when it pertains to your Amazon shopping experience.


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ISBN13: 9781455512133 ISBN10: 1455512133 All Product Details
Attending a New England summer camp, young Eric Schroder — a first-generation East German immigrant — adopts the last name Kennedy to more easily fit in, a fateful white lie that will set him on an improbable and ultimately tragic course. Schroder relates the story of Eric's urgent escape years later to Lake Champlain, Vermont, with his six-year-old daughter, Meadow, in an attempt to outrun the authorities amid a heated custody battle with his wife, who will soon discover that her husband is not who he says he is. From a correctional facility, Eric surveys the course of his life to understand — and maybe even explain — his behavior: the painful separation from his mother in childhood; a harrowing escape to America with his taciturn father; a romance that withered under a shadow of lies; and his proudest moments and greatest regrets as a flawed but loving father.
Alternately lovesick and ecstatic, Amity Gaige's deftly imagined novel offers a profound meditation on history and fatherhood, and the many identities we take on in our lives — those we are born with and those we construct for ourselves.


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"Wear sunscreen" was the advice to of Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich to the class of '97. She also told new graduates to sing, floss, remember compliments and "don't be reckless with other people's hearts." It was good advice, charmingly told.
But this is not the commencement address I would give to the class of '13. They are graduating into a less carefree world. For them, a college degree is not a guaranteed ticket to upward mobility or even, for that matter, middle-class stability. Premature aging from overexposure to the sun may be the least of their worries.
In light of this, here is my advice:
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '13, I want you to remember two things about what I am about to say:
First, politics is everything. It will determine the course of your life as much as will your choice of work and whom you marry. I know this sounds cliche, but if you don't vote, you are ceding decisions about your personal future to someone else.
Second, vote for politicians who are empathetic. A leader has to be able to put himself in other people's shoes to understand their struggles. If he can't, don't vote for him. He won't care about you either.
When I say that politics is everything, look at the impact of governance on the fortunes of people in the 20th and 21st centuries. The stark examples of East and West Germany, and North and South Korea, represent the perfect social experiment. Here, a people with the same culture and work ethic were divided and subject to different political and economic systems. One side thrived, and one didn't.
That says a lot about the power of democracy and the free market to unleash human potential.
But the analysis doesn't stop there. When you compare the lives of average Americans to those of people in Norway, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden, we come up well short, with more economic insecurity, destabilizing inequality and less work-life balance. Travel if you can and see for yourself.
The best government turns out to be one that marries a free market with a solid social safety net — think universal health care and low-cost university education — as well as strong regulations to protect workers and the environment.
That's why politics is everything.
Do you think the reason there are no Bangladeshi-type garment factories in the United States is because Walmart and the Gap have a moral compunction against exploiting American workers with a $37-a-month minimum wage and rickety, fire-trap factories? Of course not. It's because our government protects us from this kind of life.
But it hasn't done nearly enough. We are the only advanced nation that doesn't guarantee employees paid sick leave or vacation time. The Dutch enjoy 20 days of paid annual leave. For the Norwegians and Swedes it's 25 days.
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Explore all your optionsWe have none because we elect too many politicians who have no empathy. They get vacation and sick time; why should they care if some hard-working restaurant server doesn't?
Want to know what an antitax politician really is? Someone who will vote against investing in public schools, parks and infrastructure, and who will privatize Medicare and Social Security.
Want to know what a politician who says he opposes regulation is really against? A clean environment, controls on Wall Street and giving workers safe conditions, living wages and the right to organize.
It's depressing, I know, but remember the power of your vote. You can keep these politicians out of office.
You can tell billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch and plutocrats like them that no matter how many hundreds of millions they spend to get you to vote for politicians who will cut their taxes and let them pollute, they can forget it, you are not that gullible.
You can choose leaders who will stand with average Americans over the rich. It will change America for the better if you do.
Oh, and when you go outside, it's probably a good idea to put on some sunscreen.


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May 21, 2014
We are pleased to announce the latest communication campaign under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Act Against AIDS initiative. This new national HIV prevention campaign, Start Talking. Stop HIV., was created by and for gay and bisexual men. It promotes open communication about a range of HIV prevention strategies for sexual partners. The campaign is designed to inspire practical, lifesaving conversations among gay and bisexual men, who continue to be the population most severely affected by HIV in the United States.
This multi-faceted campaign was developed in consultation with 500 men of multiple ages from different racial and ethnic groups from across the United States. It is based on research that shows communication between sexual partners is associated with reduced risk behavior and increased HIV testing and HIV status disclosure.
Start Talking. Stop HIV. features messages that engage, inspire, and spark conversations between sexual partners and provides gay and bisexual men with practical tools and tips for bringing up important HIV prevention topics like:
- HIV testing and their HIV status,
- Condoms and engaging in lower-risk sexual behaviors,
- Medicines that prevent and treat HIV, including the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and antiretroviral therapy (ART).
The campaign will initially launch in south Florida, a region with high HIV prevalence among gay and bisexual men. Start Talking. Stop HIV. will roll-out in other cities during PRIDE events throughout the year. Campaign images and messages will appear in mobile, online, and national and local print advertising and will be the focus of a national media relations effort to generate print and broadcast news stories.
You can watch exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage of the Start Talking. Stop HIV. campaign and public service announcements on the campaign website.
You can support the campaign and increase conversation about HIV by:
- Forwarding this letter to your networks. Start talking and share the news about the new campaign throughout your network via an e-mail or posting on your organization's website.
- Using campaign materials. Download digital banner ads and videos from our campaignwebsite to add to your organization's website and social media channels to start the conversation. Request printed posters, cards and brochures from CDC to distribute at community events and to provide to local venues in your city by sending an e-mail request email@example.com.
- Joining the conversation on Facebook. Like theStart Talking. Stop HIV. Facebook page and share or respond to our posts. Also direct your followers to check out our materials.
- Example Facebook post your organization can use: Check out CDC's new national HIV prevention campaign - Start Talking. Stop HIV. Start Talking to help Stop HIVtransmission among gay and bisexual men. www.facebook.com/
- Example Facebook post your organization can use: Check out CDC's new national HIV prevention campaign - Start Talking. Stop HIV. Start Talking to help Stop HIVtransmission among gay and bisexual men. www.facebook.com/
- Chatting with us on Twitter. Spread the word about the campaign through Twitter by using the campaign hashtag #StartTalkingHIV and by following our account@TalkHIV.
- Example tweet your organization can use: CDC's new #HIV campaign for gay & bisexual men promotes open communication about HIV prevention #StartTalkingHIV.
- Talking to everyone you know about HIV. A conversation is just the first step toward stopping HIV in the gay community.
- Incorporating Start Talking. Stop HIV. into community events and educational presentations, underscoring the importance of open communication about HIV risk and prevention strategies.
Thank you for your efforts to combat HIV and for your continued support of CDC and Act Against AIDS.


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For those of you that have a wireless keyboard laying around, you might be tempted to turn it into something else, like a wireless MAME controller. For those not familiar with it, MAME stands for "Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator" and is generally used to run older arcade games on a computer.
Encoders are available for this purpose, however, intending to save some money, and having an unused wireless keyboard, I decided to try to make one myself. As far as I know there are no wireless encoders available for this purpose, so that was part of the motivation for trying this.
In this post I go over my mechanical design for the cabinet as well as the electrical process of going from keyboard to MAME controller. I did eventually get the thing working, but if more than a couple buttons were pressed simultaneously, some presses were omitted. The conclusion I eventually came to was that it was better to use an encoder to control everything. Not wireless, but much more reliable. If I absolutely needed a wireless controller in the future, I would think modding an actual wireless controller (or two) in a similar manner would have worked better for my purposes.


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Trucks Socks
Check out all the awesome, cool, colourful, crazy, and fun Good Luck Socks to choose from, suitable for both men & women. Is it time to upgrade your sock drawer?
85% Cotton, 10% Polyester, 5% Spandex.
Made in South Korea.
Machine wash, cold (30 ƒ / 86 ‰). Do not bleach or iron. To reduce damage and if you're feeling very fancy, line dry. They will last longer if you keep them out of the tumble dryer. Eat well. Exercise. Have an amazing day.
We're happy to offer expedited shipping to anywhere in Canada and the USA. FREE SHIPPING ALL ORDERS $99+. Read more.
Items can be returned for store credit or exchange within 30 days of receiving your order. We currently do not offer monetary refunds. Underwear (hygiene reasons) and 75% Off Clearance Items (final sale) are unable to be returned. Read more.
Every item visible on our online store is shipped directly from our locally owned and operated retail location on Vancouver Island (Downtown Nanaimo). We're forever greatful for our customers and community who help keep our menswear dream alive!


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Legal Bases
we are required to specify the purposes for which we process your personal data and to have a legal basis to collect, use, share, and otherwise process information about our users.
Legal Bases
To provide the SCOOBY Services
As described in the , the Services cannot be provided, and the cannot be performed, without SCOOBY processing data about you including location data. For example:
- We need information about the location of any bike or scooter while you are riding it and the routes taken by the bike or scooter in order to provide the Services to you.
- We share information with Integrated Partners so you can access the SCOOBY Services via their app.
- We communicate with you about your account, interactions or transactions including service-related announcements such as changes to our policies.
With your consent
We ask for your permission to process your information for certain purposes and you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. We rely on your consent in the following situations:
- With your explicit consent, we will use our facial recognition technologies to verify that the driver's license provided matches the selfie you upload. The facial recognition technology used for this implicates data with special
- Where required by applicable law, to send you marketing communications.
- When you link, connect, or login to SCOOBY with a third-party service (e.g. Facebook). Such information may include your account ID or "handle" and information that you make available to us on that page or account.
- To receive information through the device-based settings you enable (such as access to your camera or photos), so we can provide the features and services described when you enable the settings.
On other occasions where we ask you for consent, we will use the data for the purpose which we explain at that time.
When we process the data you provide to us based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
Legal obligation or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
We share and otherwise process information where we have a legal obligation to do so. The categories of data will depend on the specific factual circumstances but could include sharing your account information, such as SCOOBY user identifier, name, email address, telephone number, date of birth, driver's license, trip data and location data. Where legally required, we share information:
- Where we're responding to valid requests from law enforcement and other government agencies for certain user information.
- We may be required to process your information to verify your driver's license or identification, including to manage insurance, or to take action regarding illegal activities, traffic offences or violation of our .
- We may also have a legal obligation to share certain user information including account, journey and location data with cities, local authorities and public transport operators where necessary to fulfil conditions of the permits or licenses granted by these authorities to us.
- In addition, processing may be needed for us to establish, exercise or defend civil or criminal claims in connection with actual or potential litigation including to protect our Services, our property or other legal rights, including those of our users.
To protect vital interests
We process data where it is necessary to protect an interest which is essential to someone's life or to protect any person from serious injury. The categories of data and processing involved will depend on the specific factual circumstances, for example this could include processing information to combat harmful conduct both on and off of our Services.
Carrying out a task in the public interest
Where envisaged. This may include protecting against harm and undertaking research for social good and typically, the categories of data and processing involved will depend on the specific factual circumstances.
For the purposes of our legitimate interests
We process your information where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, or those of third parties, while applying appropriate safeguards that protect your privacy, rights and interests. We do this to:
- Manage our fleet of SCOOBY vehicles including to; ensure availability, to monitor usage levels and track juice (battery charge) levels. It is in our interest to provide vehicles which are in good working order and to protect our property from damage or theft.
- Collect images such as the helmet selfies and/or video footage via cameras on certain SCOOBY vehicles, such as mopeds. It is in our (and your) interests to confirm you wear (and continue to wear) appropriate protective gear and are riding in a safe manner.
- Show and personalize the advertisements you see based on information you provide to us and our advertising partners. It is in our interest to support and fund our business and to ensure the content user's see is relevant to them.
- Collaborate with third parties where it is in our legitimate interests to support and fund our business, we share aggregated rider data as high level insights to pursue research and business projects. To do this, we remove certain identifiers, such as your name, phone, and e-mail address (where provided), and combine the resulting information with similar information from other users. We may use, license, or share such information with third parties for use by third parties for research, business or other purposes. For example, sharing ridership information with a consulting company in support of their consideration of zero-emissions areas in certain geographies.
- In the interests of the communities we serve, cities, local authorities and the public generally, we share aggregated or anonymized rider data with cities, local authorities and universities for research purposes, including to enable them to better understand the general flow of people and traffic across their streets over time. For example, SCOOBY partners with universities and local government authorities to collaborate on research projects such as understanding traffic and travel patterns in a city. Learn more about these collaborations.
- Improve our Services by conducting research or analytics such as what services or products users want, how users would like us to improve our Services and identify any issues so we can improve your navigation experience and those of other users. It is in SCOOBY's (and our users') interest to offer an innovative and accessible service. We may also, where necessary in our legitimate interests, use your information including the helmet selfies uploaded by riders to create and train our machine learning models to improve the accuracy of the helmet detection software.
- Keep the Services safe and secure by using information to detect, prevent or investigate violations of our fraud, illegality or abuse, and to prevent, detect or investigate unauthorised use of SCOOBY vehicles. It is in our and our riders' interests to take steps to provide a safe and secure service.
- Share information with third parties, including law enforcement and other government agencies (such as cities and local authorities) to detect, prevent or investigate violations of our , fraud, illegality or abuse, and to prevent, detect or investigate unauthorised use of SCOOBY vehicles pursuant to their legitimate interests in investigating, prosecuting and preventing crime.
- Promote the Services, including advertising the Services to you on third-party services (including social networks) and to conduct marketing campaigns, to tell you about the various services we offer or to send you promotions. It is in our interests to promote the Services and in rider's interests to receive special offers and promotions such as free unlocks.
- Understand and respond to your feedback. It is in the interests of our users to respond to their requests, resolve issues and prevent bad experiences.
You have the right to object to, and seek restriction of, our processing of your personal data based on our legitimate interests. You can exercise your right to object by emailing us at [email protected]


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Found in a garage where it had been stored virtually untouched for 50 years, this 1937 Bugatti Type 57s Atalante sports car is previewed for the first time before a Bonhams auction in Paris on February 7th 2009. Here, we see a detail of its radiator grill and patent number in a garage/studio before the auction and sale in Paris. In 2008 the Bugatti Type 57S with chassis number 57502 built in 1937 with the Atalante coachwork for Earl Howe was discovered in a private garage in Newcastle upon Tyne, having been stored untouched for 48 years and known about only by a select few people. It was auctioned in February 2009 at the Retromobile motor show in Paris, France, fetching EUR3.4 million (US$4.6 million), becoming one of the highest valued cars in automotive history, owing much to its extremely low mileage, original condition and ownership pedigree.
Add to Cart Add to Lightbox Download


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Show All Answers
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless and poisonous gas that results when natural gas and other fuels burn without sufficient oxygen.
Carbon monoxide is an asphyxiate and prevents needed oxygen from traveling throughout the body. Carbon monoxide combines more readily with hemoglobin (blood) than oxygen, thus disrupting oxygen transport. Carbon monoxide levels in the blood vary with carbon monoxide exposure levels, length of exposure and physiological factors.
Elevated levels of carbon monoxide can cause illness and even death. The elderly and persons with cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases are particularly sensitive to elevated levels of carbon monoxide.
Signs and symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include nausea, headaches, and fatigue; these symptoms are often mistaken for the flu. Persons exposed to high levels of carbon monoxide need fresh air immediately and should be removed from the hazardous environment.
If you suspect elevated levels of carbon monoxide are in your home and you feel ill, you should go to a neighbor's house and call 911. The fire department will test for levels of elevated carbon monoxide in your home to determine if it is safe to re-enter.
The most effective way of determining whether there are elevated levels of carbon monoxide in your home is to purchase and install carbon monoxide detectors. There are two basic types of carbon monoxide detectors, plug-in or AC units, and battery operated units. Both alert you to the presence of carbon monoxide.
Plug-in units operate by heating a metal-oxide sensor, which reacts with carbon monoxide. When this type of unit detects carbon monoxide, the alarm sounds, but resets a few minutes after gas dissipates. Plug-in units can plug directly in a wall socket or utilize a power cord. If the unit has a power cord, it should be placed high on a wall, as close to the ceiling as possible.
The battery-operated unit has a disk that darkens from prolonged exposure to carbon monoxide, air pollution, high humidity and household vapors. The infrared sensor in the unit senses the change in the color and sounds the alarm. It is important to remember that the battery and sensor units need to be replaced every two years.
Carbon monoxide detectors can be purchased at general retail and hardware stores. If you have additional concerns about a particular brand, you can call the manufacturer.
Carbon monoxide detectors should be placed in a hallway between bedrooms and the rest of the house. Additional detectors can be placed near every sleeping and living area. Do not place the carbon monoxide detectors in a room with a furnace! Do not place the detector in the kitchen or garage!
Effective ways to prevent a build-up of carbon monoxide in your home are to:
Activities that contribute to elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the home should always be avoided. These include:


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In 1986, on the 500th anniversary of the advent of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Gurudeva composed an article in Bengali, entitled "The Speciality of the Gift of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu." That article has now been translated into English and made into a small booklet, presented by the Rays of The Harmonist team. It is available in Navadvipa at Sri Sri Kesavaji Gaudiya Math, now at the time of parikrama.
An excerpt from the booklet is as follows:
"Sriman Mahaprabhu gave full freedom to His unprecedented mercy (karuna) potency, telling her, 'Karuna, I surrender unto you. In whichever direction you choose, however far you want to go, and to whatever place you want to travel, drown everyone – the offenders, the antagonists, the neutral, the faithful, the faithless, the ordinary devotees and the special devotees – in the flood of prema.' "


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Viacom is an evil massive consortium, that is owned by an even bigger consortium, known as the Khmer Rouge. Everybody knows that it's a trillion dollar satanic corporation that is responsible of the destruction of teenagers, Black People, and the United States of America. The company is decicated to being greedy, creating quality entertainment, and canceling all the good shows and replacing them with crap. Viacom* is also the fascist ruler of the "free" world. It essentially owns everything and everyone. Even you. Even me. Even your mom. Viacom's* electricity is generated in sweatshops by making children suck on there dicks whilst on treadmills 24 hours a day. The treadmill concept is property of Viacom* and this information will be removed due to a copyright claim. Viacom is owned by Roman Abramovich
Hell, Viacom* even says it owns James Bond – and nobody owns James Bond, except for MGM. Don't you even believe what those other phony trademarks (which Viacom* just so happens to own) tell you.
Since 1971, Viacom's* headquarters have been located in New York City, in a windowless black skyscraper nobody ever enters or leaves. Remember whatever they own, you boycott and that includes if they own you, if so then boycott yourself.
Does Viacom* really own everything?
Viacom*, discriminates against employees and if you aren't part of the sophomoric behavior you will get forced out or kicked out. Working at MTV Networks is like never leaving high school mentality. If you are an a mature adult, Viacom is not for you. If you have morals and values and aren't exploitive, you will not want to work here.
Yes, Viacom* owns everything. It owns the world, okay? There's a big friggin' stamp over Mexico that reads "This Planet is the Property of Viacom, Inc." We, meaning I, Sumner Redstone, own it all. Well, except Emperor Kylapharos. But he's allied with Princess Zelda, Stephanie of LazyTown, Ian Hawke, and Professor Threehorn, an evil penguin from Pingu, and Dr. Two-Brains. So we have nothing to worry about from him. Hell, we even own Wal-Mart.
Viacom* – A History
Once upon a time, I, Sumner Redstone, decided to buy an FCC fin-syn spin-off conglomerate that owns everything in the entire world. So, he set up a company called HufferKitties Incorporated. Of course, everyone wanted to work there, since back in the 80s, everyone thought doing drugs and kitten huffing was cool, and so they all showed up just to breathe the factory's fumes and get high. Sure enough, all of those 80s kids are dead. Stupid 80s druggies.
After This Guy huffed one too many orange kittens, he fell victim to the ravages of I Must Get My Hideous Blood-Curdling Revenge on Everyone Syndrome and was placed in Intensive Care at the Hospital for the Kitten Huffing Addicted. Please help them. They need funds. They don't have any money to throw useless stripper parties for the insane doctors and nurses.
Soon, I took over the company and became very very rich and successful, and changed the name to Viacom*, so now I own both Mexico AND you. Teh total pwnage.**
But I don't own General Electric anymore (except for their Radio Network).
YouTube legal case
Viacom* is suing Google, owner of YouTube, for $12 jillion (the word 'jillion' is © Viacom*) because their content was plastered over youtube and viewers could watch it for free without actually watching Viacom channels. Everyone was happy, but Viacom being the greedy bastards they are pulled down all the videos from youtube and demanded that if anyone wanted to watch their crappy shows they had to watch it with commercials. Being the evil greedy parasites that Viacom are, decided to violate privacy laws and view all of YouTube users' names, passwords, IP addresses, video viewing habits, favorites, PIN numbers, mother's maiden names, bank account numbers, sort codes, credit card numbers, expiry dates and favorite sandwich fillings. AND worse, they're installing ViaWatch (R) to track any content that is property of Viacom* and automatically dump video containing said content. On July 14, 2008, Google told Viacom* to piss off, and that they would nobly die to the last man in an epic standoff before tarnishing the sacred anonymity of Internet thieves and pirates everywhere. NFFS (Nerds For Free Stuff) raised a rallying cry, and vowed on their Ancestors to add 3,000 heavy cavalry and 87 squads of GTA fanatics to the fight. Viacom*, realizing that if they wanted to get any cash at all (and not have their corporate buildings burned to the ground) they'd better leave the mob of angry civilians alone, decided to agree to a compromise and backed down like the pussies they are, and let Google withhold private user data. Google is still taking it in the ass for us though, and there'll probably be some employees fired over this whole whiny-bitch mess. And the next thing you know, this bitchy piss-off fighting is gonna go on and on and on until the year 3000.
V of Doom
At the end of about every freaking show Viacom* owns, the "V of Doom" appears. It is a device created by Satan to shorten people's lives (similar to other WMD's such as the Screen Gems S from hell and the YTV chevron). Remember, do not be fooled that your favourite show is produced by another company. Viacom now distributes for every single company in the world. Recently, VID in Russia has bought Viacom to be it's co-distributor. If you hate Viacom then just give up on TV and pick up a real hobby, you television troublemakers!
Exposure to the V of Doom may cause mental retardation, Down's Syndrome, indigestion, a strong urge to go to Hell, Sleep Paralysis, nightmares that paralyze you, and anything else but happiness, satisfaction, etc. And it's all thanks to those Hell Hormones Satan has injected to each and every V of Doom. Then when it comes on TV, the V of Doom passes the hormones to you visually. AND as a bonus, you can get them in V tablets (Only in Satanic shops statewide)! The V of Doom consists of a giant blue V zooming up on a lavender background and "A Viacom Presentation" zooms in to a 5-note horn tune composed by Philip Glass. Once the "V" stops zooming in, your TV screen can (and will) break. In fact, in past cases, it has been rumored by technologists that after the V of doom zoomed in and breaks the TVs, it jumped out of TV screens and violently attacked approximately 999,999 people worldwide (mainly here in the states). Fortunately, it isn't as common nowadays, but when it was common, it, its creators, and its composer were deemed not responsible for damage to TVs by a panel of Viacom's* lawyers.


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Arizona stuns Oregon behind Ka'Deem Carey's 4 TD runs
TUCSON, Ariz. -- The goal posts lying flat on the field, Arizona's fans lingered on the field, congregating around the locker room entrance nearly 30 minutes after rushing out of the stands.
This was a big one for Arizona.
For Oregon, it was a crushing blow, to its national title hopes and maybe its BCS bowl chances, too.
Ka'Deem Carey ran for 206 yards and four touchdowns while becoming Arizona's all-time leading rusher, and the Wildcats pulled off a monumental upset by taking advantage of numerous Oregon miscues, shocking the fifth-ranked Ducks 42-16 on Saturday.
"A good win, honestly," Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said. "This was a great opportunity for our guys and they took it."
It was hard to see this one coming.
Arizona was coming off consecutive home losses, the most disappointing last week's toe-stubbing against Washington State.
Oregon had raced through most of its schedule, a loss to Stanford putting a dent in its national championship hopes, but a Rose Bowl bid still on the table.
The Wildcats (7-4, 4-3 Pac-12) turned the tables on the fast-paced Ducks, eschewing the normal slow-it-down routine most teams play against them by keeping their foot on the throttle.
With Carey bursting through the line to punish defenders and B.J. Denker dinking and dashing with a variety of fakes, the Wildcats jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead and kept going for their first win over a top-five team since knocking off No. 2 Oregon in 2007.
Oregon (9-2, 6-2) gave the Wildcats plenty of help with three turnovers and turning it over twice more on downs to end its national title hopes and, possibly, its four-year run of BCS bowls.
Carey was the workhorse for Arizona as he has been all season, carrying a school-record 48 times while scoring on runs of 6, 1, 9 and 2 yards to break Art Luppino's career record of 48 total touchdowns set from 1953-56. Carey also reached 3,913 career yards rushing, breaking the mark of 3,824 set by Trung Canidate from 1996-99.
Denker threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns, ran for 102 more and Arizona had 304 yards rushing, a season-high against Oregon.
"It's a great feeling," said Denker, who was 19 of 22 passing. "This is a crazy win for our program, for our coaching staff, for our players, for our seniors. Everything went great today."
Not for Oregon.
The normally high-flying Ducks couldn't keep up in the Wildcats' final home game of the season.
Oregon sputtered most of the day, showing only flashes of the offensive brilliance that had them No. 2 in total offense and third in scoring entering the game.
Marcus Mariota threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns, but also had two interceptions, his first since Nov. 17, 2012, against Stanford.
The Ducks outgained Arizona 506-482 in total yards, but couldn't overcome all the uncharacteristic miscues to lose consecutive road games for the first time since 2007.
Earlier in the week, De'Anthony Thomas said it was no big deal for the Ducks to go to the Rose Bowl. After this debacle, that's out of reach, too.
"It hurts," Mariota said. "I haven't been blown out like this in my life.
Mariota's first interception came on a spectacular play, kick-starting Arizona for the monumental upset.
It came on Oregon's first play from scrimmage, when Bralon Addison dropped a pass near the sideline. Arizona cornerback Shaquille Richardson snared the carom and flipped it back to teammate Scooby Wright as he was falling out of bounds. It ended Mariota's Pac-12 record streak of passes without an interception at 353 and Carey followed with a 6-yard touchdown run.
Oregon's next drive ended with another drop, this one by De'Anthony Thomas on what would have been a big third-down gain. Arizona followed with another touchdown, a 9-yard pass from Denker to Nate Phillips along the left sideline to make it 14-0.
The Wildcats kept marching on Oregon's defense, moving 83 yards in 16 plays for a 5-yard touchdown pass from Denker, who set it up by faking the run, to Terrence Miller to make it 21-3.
Arizona got one more chance after stopping Oregon on downs, ripping off 59 yards in 42 seconds for Carey's second TD, a 1-yard run that made it 28-9 at halftime.
The Wildcats' defense wasn't bad, either.
The Ducks needed over eight minutes to get their first first down and when they finally got a drive going, had to settle for Matt Wogan's 33-yard field goal after a holding call against tight end Pharaoh Brown negated Mariota's 6-yard TD run.
Oregon raced down for a 1-yard touchdown pass from Mariota to Brown in the second quarter, but the final two drives of the half ended in failure: Thomas Tyner lost a fumble and Mariota came up short on fourth-and-2 when he was stripped of the ball.
"Obviously, how we started, in every phase, that is 100 percent my fault," Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said. "I have to figure out exactly which levers to pull and which buttons to push on."
Once word of the upset-in-the-making spread around campus, the student section began to fill up.
And the Wildcats finished it off.
The Ducks opened second half by failing on a fourth-and-2 at Arizona's 6 and did nothing else until Mariota hit Josh Huff on a 2-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter.
Arizona answered with a bruising 75-yard drive, capped by Carey's 49th career TD, a 2-yard run that put Arizona up 42-16.
Richardson sealed the upset with an interception near the goal line late in the fourth quarter and the fans streamed from the stands once the final horn sounded.
"Those seniors will have a memory that will last them a long time," Rodriguez said.
And leave the Ducks with one that will sting for quite a while.
Game Information
2023 Pac-12 Conference Standings
Team | CONF | OVR |
Washington | 9-0 | 14-1 |
Oregon | 8-1 | 12-2 |
Arizona | 7-2 | 10-3 |
Oregon State | 5-4 | 8-5 |
Utah | 5-4 | 8-5 |
California | 4-5 | 6-7 |
Arizona State | 2-7 | 3-9 |
Stanford | 2-7 | 3-9 |
Washington State | 2-7 | 5-7 |
Colorado | 1-8 | 4-8 |


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ForumsGetting Things Done®Must...resist...priorities...please critique this setup
Must...resist...priorities...please critique this setup
Author | Message |
raindog308 |
I'm your typical GTD novice.
So I have my folders: Inbox, Next Actions, Waiting For, Someday/Mabye, and Project folders for each project. Getting things out of the Inbox is easy - everything seems to sort itself properly. Excluding the stuff on Someday/Maybe and Waiting For (and future start tasks), I have ~250 to dos, spread over personal and professional life. They range from "revise book proposal that editor is interested in" to "order a 2nd ipod charger for office charging". Most do not have any specific start/due date. I am struggling with a couple things: (1) My initial idea was to star all Next Actions, so that I could pull up a search of starred items that would span both my Next Actions list and the Project folders. That works fine for designating Next Actions in the project folders, but is a little cumbersome when moving a single-step inbox item to the Next Actions folder, as it's two steps (star + move). Not a big deal but wondering if anyone has a better system. I also thought of moving the Next Actions for projects out of their folders and into the Next Actions folder, but that seems more cumbersome. (2) Here's the bigger problem...GTD preaches prioritization on the fly based on context, time, energy, and priority. I often have large blocks of time in a context (at work, on the Internet, etc.) and 30+ Next Actions. Time and energy are generally not constraining factors. I find myself constantly scanning 150+ items on my Next Actions list (the rest are project later steps). I'm often in places where I have many contexts available (Internet, home, work (telecommuting), phone, etc. all at once). So what's the best method for ordering all of the possible things I could do? Some really are more important than others. The book proposal is really important compared to ordering a second iPod charger, but in GTD they're both just items on the list of dozens. Yeah, I know, it's all intuitive/gut/etc. as he says, but for me it means very frequent list-scanning. I really resist the idea of adding a priority to items...I've thought of making a tag for "important!" but that is prioritization under another name. It's not really urgency in a due date sense. |
Andrew A |
I don't use priority (I use medium as a default for everything because I like the text emphasis), but I would explore TD's saved searches to see if that meets your needs (as you can create rather complex searches and save them for reuse). Also, maybe your contexts need to be evaluated? Perhaps so that they more accurately reflect your reality and task style and need?
I use next action for next action, and star for things that really really need my attention. I only use due dates when necessary and when they are calendar items, and I also believe in the intuitive approach. I constantly scan my folders (so I can see tasks and their various contexts), and by context so I can see my contexts and the various folders they belong to. Just my two cents, everyone finds their own way with toodledo eventually. |
Claudio |
Posted by andrew:
Some really are more important than others. The book proposal is really important compared to ordering a second iPod charger, but in GTD they're both just items on the list of dozens. First, one question: Have you ordered the iPod charger? If yes, then you have one less item on your list. If no, then ... well, that's another question.Time and energy are generally not constraining factors. I suggest that they are two of the most constraining factors. If you have unlimited time and energy, you would never have a list of anything to do: Everything would be just be done. ;) I think that Andrew A has a good suggestion: Also, maybe your contexts need to be evaluated? Perhaps so that they more accurately reflect your reality and task style and need? Here's a suggestion from Zenhabits:If you start to notice that there are next actions on your context list that you cannot actually do right now, that is either because 1) your contexts need to be re-examined; 2) the task is not actually a next action but a dependent task or project; or 3) the next action belongs on your Someday/Maybe list. From http://zenhabits.net/the-getting-things-done-gtd-faq/ It's a good article. Hope that helps. |
alexborne |
When I feel I have too many tasks to scan, I use shortlisting methods.
So I prioritize, keeping in mind these priorities are short term, they are just a way to shorten the list, making it a "focus" list. Priority does not have to obbey a fixed rule (there can be several parameters eg urgency, importance, money-making, goal-reaching, etc..) Priority just means : "I want to do this and this first, and that just after". You can you use priority just by intuition. You already know what's important, urgent, vital, or fun to do. So your intuition will guide you as you scan the long list. Then you only work through this prioritized short list, until it's empty, or the allocated time is over. This can be done by setting due dates (today, tomorrow), by using the priority field, or by using stars. I personnally use a combination of all 3, because I like to concentrate on short lists of about 3 to 5 tasks : First I give due dates, then priorities, then I star the tasks I am going to do in the next 2 hours. |
SRhyse |
The "GTD preaches prioritization on the fly based on context, time, energy, and priority" you're referring to is more a criticism of thinking you need to work on absolutely everything that's more important to you at any given moment before getting to anything else, even when you've only got 5 spare minutes dragging yourself home after a 26 mile run in the woods. It's not referring to using Toodledo's priority feature, nor advising anyone to avoid it ;).
I use priority to give 'weight' to any tasks I put into the system. There isn't any conceptual explanation you can give on how to weight things that won't be largely arbitrary to anyone but the person giving it, so it's more a gut decision you have to make if you wanna do it. Something being a commitment I've made to someone else, having alot of negative consequences if I don't do it, and generally having a much larger pay off than any time or energy I put into it tends to warrant a higher priority on things, but that all still happens as an intuitive "How do I wanna weight this?" decision when I put a task in. I default everything to a priority of '0 - low.' Most tasks stay that way, so it's not alot of additional clicking that I need to do in order to use it. Sorting by importance helps alot from there, which I think is one of the unsung heroes of Toodledo. You can read more about how that works here http://www.toodledo.com/info/help.php?search=importance, but it looks at a all the information you associate with tasks and how you've interacted with them to give a pretty nifty and dynamic arrangement of how worthwhile each item might be to you at the moment. Keep in mind, an item appearing higher than another on the list, when sorting by any method, doesn't mean you have to do that before you do anything under it. It does do a great job of letting the gems rise from the chaff, however. This message was edited Jul 09, 2010. |
Proximo |
Great Discussion.
The idea is to filter your task based on the current situation. If you are not using Time and Energy, I would highly recommend it. This allows you to dynamically adjust what you need to be considering at the moment. If you are at work with 2 hours left in your day with low energy level. This tells you a lot about what is most affective for you to be doing at the moment. In David Allen's second book "Making it all work" he talks about using "The Horizons of Focus" to determine your priorities. It does not matter if you work from 50,000 feet down to the runway or from the runway up. You don't need to use context that don't make sense for your situation, but every task should have Time and Energy identified. You can start with a list of 150+ task and quickly filter it down to 50 based on Time and Energy alone. Once you filtered the list down to what is actually realistic at the moment, you can decide which have the higher priorities based on your Horizons of Focus. GTD is not about Getting EVERYTHING DONE, but Getting the most important things done at any given moment that will make you feel comfortable with the decisions you make. |
lionel_silva |
I put energy needed for a task as a tag. Helps somewhat. Also, I star the items I want to work on during the day in my daily review. Helps to at least break the list into starred and not starred. Kinda like proximo. I set status=action during weekly and star during daily review, with adjustments as needed.
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MOTU has always had a pretty rock-solid reputation for making high-quality, reliable audio interfaces, so the announcement of a new compact unit is exciting news.
Built in an aluminium, half-rack case the new MOTU 4pre has four combo jack inputs and four TRS jack outputs, plus S/PDIF I/O. It's also bus-powered over FireWire or will work via USB 2.0 with a power supply. The price is currently estimated to be around the $485 mark.
MOTU 4pre official details
If you've been searching for an affordable, compact audio interface with four mic inputs, your search is over. The 4pre packs four mic inputs into an impressively small half-rack form factor, along with a healthy complement of additional professional-grade audio connections. Just think of the possibilities. You can record and mix vocals plus guitar for two musicians simultaneously. Or mic a drum kit with overheads and close-ups. Or record lead and background vocals in one take. With an interface this flexible, capable, and great-sounding, you'll be ready for any situation your music throws at you.
The 4pre is an impressively small 8.5 by 7 by 1.75 inches, which means that it slides easily into your backpack. It also sits nicely next to your laptop or desktop computer.
The four inputs are not just for mics: they are combo jacks that also accept a quarter-inch plug. Inputs 1-2 take line-level signals, such as the output from a synth or keyboard. Inputs 3-4 are "hi-Z" DI inputs with proper impedance for plugging in your electric guitar directly, without an amp or cabinet, to process your guitar sound through amp and cab simulation plug-ins in your host software.
Thanks to MOTU's Hybrid interface technology, the 4pre connects to any Mac or PC via FireWire or high-speed USB 2.0. Connect your mic, guitar, keyboard, and digital input, and you are ready to make pro-quality recordings.
Quickly balance the levels of mics, guitars, a keyboard, or other inputs right from the front panel. Each input has its own volume control. Route inputs directly to any output pair, each with its own unique mix: main outs, line outs, S/PDIF out, and phones.
The 4pre has been engineered with MOTU's renowned, award-winning audio interface technology, which delivers the pristine audio quality and rock-solid performance that MOTU interfaces are known for worldwide. You can always record and mix with confidence, knowing that decades of engineering experience are behind you, every step of the way.
The 4pre aluminium alloy chassis is lightweight, yet incredibly sturdy and durable, and designed to withstand the rigours of the studio, stage, and tour bus. In a world awash with cheap plastic, the cool touch of the 4pre's metal exterior in your hands is a reassuring reminder that you are holding quality engineering and construction built to last.
The 4pre can be joined with another MOTU half-rack interface (MIDI or audio) and together they can be mounted in a standard 19-inch equipment rack, or you can mount them on rack rails with other MOTU gear for convenient desktop operation.


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The science that is studied in the home is the greatest and most glorious of all sciences, very inadequately indicated by the word education, and nothing less, at least, than the mystery of the making of men.
– G.K. Chesterton
This is my first year as a homeschooling parent. I never thought it would be easy, but I also never knew it would be this hard. My wife, who has homeschooled our children for years, started a real estate brokerage last year. I recently left my job to join her in this growing family business. Working for ourselves and doing it mostly from home has made it possible for us to more fully share the tasks of raising, educating, and keeping the children from killing themselves or each other.
In the short time I've been doing this, I've found it both tremendously rewarding and unbelievably challenging. I expect that in most families, the homeschooling is conducted principally by the parent who stays at home, just as it was in our family before I left my previous profession. And in most families willing to homeschool, that parent is the mother. As a man, I have come to develop a new and profound appreciation for stay-at-home, homeschooling moms who keep a tight ship, a tidy house, and food on the table. When my wife is busy and I'm at the helm, I'm thrilled when my children are wearing more than a pair of tattered underpants, and if I've gotten through all the subjects without losing my cool, that's a big win for the day.
Now I just have to master doing that while doing the work that I need to do for the business, staying ahead of the tidal wave of messes, and keeping some semblance of order. For posterity, I decided to take some notes today on my attempted routine:
The alarm on my phone goes off, and it's just way too serene and peaceful to motivate me. It sounds like something a Chopin wannabe would compose, and I could easily just keep dreaming right through it. But our oldest daughter has to get to school, so I yank myself out of bed and hit the shower, regretting that extra time I spent staying up last night catching up on Breaking Bad. Don't judge me.
I'm in the car, riding shotgun with a half-liter mug of Earl Gray to keep me company as our new driver tackles the morning commute to school. The Catholic high school she attends is 17 miles away, so I practice clenching and unclenching every reflexive muscle in my body for half an hour as we make our way through the outlying DC-area traffic to get there. When we finally switch seats upon arrival, I'm left trying to get my 6'4″, 285lb. frame into the space left by a 4'11", 95 lb. girl. Luckily, she at least slid the seat back for me. Unluckily, the seat height, steering wheel adjustment, and every mirror on the car all need to be completely changed. I'm sure it looks totally normal the way my head is at a 45-degree angle to my body as I pull away.
I arrive at home, and breakfast is in progress. Sort of. My wife, brilliant delegator that she is, has the children peeling potatoes, which she then cuts up for frying. She hands the cooking over to me so she can take care of some client issues, and soon I'm peeling strips of bacon into a pan and flipping eggs over easy like a short order cook. There are five kids at home, so this process is as industrialized as I can make it. (I'm trying to make myself sound efficient, but don't be fooled!)
Faces have been fed. The new dishwasher is broken, so we used paper plates this morning, making cleanup marginally less of big fat pain. A particularly difficult client issue leads to the cancellation of a contract, and I offer to make the run to pull our marketing collateral and lockbox from the property. One of those times where it's just better to cut your losses. I catch a little talk radio on the way, and hear about the poor parent in Maryland who got arrested for questioning the imposition of the Common Core curriculum in his district. I thank heaven for homeschooling and wonder how long it will stay legal.
I'm back from my trip, and it's time for me to teach my subjects: history, religion, and science. English and math have already been covered. But my wife has another client meeting and she hands me Liam, our extra-wriggly 6 month-old baby as we jointly try to solve a tech problem with one of our electronic business documents. After a number of attempts, she just prints the thing and leaves for her meeting. I resign myself to the fact that I probably won't be teaching anything until the baby goes down for a nap and head to the living room to see what the other rugrats are doing.
The boys are buried in a pillow fort, glued to their daily round of Leapfrog videos. Strike that. Jude, the two year-old, for whom the videos are actually playing, has snuck out of the room. He's most likely somewhere standing in a puddle of his own making, or else trying to climb on top of the fridge or up the pantry shelves to get whatever treat he's decided he deserves just for being awesome. I'm attempting to get some writing done on my iPad, but after five minutes the keyboard battery dies and I realize I'm going to have to go back to my aging PC and hope that I can knock it out in pieces without the older children killing Liam with "affection".
I dispatch Sophia, the seven year-old, to perform reconnaissance on the Jude situation. She reports back from the front with unwelcome news. He's definitely made a puddle. She says it's a big one, and when I get there I see that she's right. I'm tempted to call upon Moses to part the waters, and I find myself wondering how such a small person can produce so much fluid. Luckily there's a dirty towel in the laundry room I can use. I briefly consider mopping, but when I think about actually filling a bucket, adding cleanser, and squeezing out a mop, I opt instead for Clorox spray and paper towels. It'll have to do.
I'm in my office at the PC. I've reclaimed Liam to keep him safe, and he's wriggling away on my lap. I try writing again when I realize that Alex, the four year-old, is wailing, and the doppler effect tells me it's getting closer. This is not a sound like crying, mind you, but an inhuman noise that literally short circuits all rational thought. In short order, he transitions to ranting, offering lamentations about how I'll only let him watch educational shows. During school hours. I'm a cruel taskmaster. I should be teaching him, but I can't really teach anything because of the wildly fidgeting Liam who kicks masterfully at my keyboard and mouse, adding characters and deselecting windows just as I am about to complete a coherent thought. I hear myself literally saying these words to this cherubic, mischevious infant: "Here, why don't you play with this marker? That seems like a great idea." Alex, growing tired of my non-plussitude, storms out the back door, no doubt with the intention of setting up residence somewhere in the woods. Speaking of markers, I notice that someone has written on my computer screen witha purple one. Yay.
I have not yet completed a paragraph. Jude is back, and he's demanding "a jinka wadder" so he can make another puddle fifteen minutes from now when I forget to send him to the bathroom. While in the kitchen, I notice that the screen has fallen off the fan vent on our range hood. When I go to replace it, the other falls off and behind the stove. I decide that the damned thing is just going to have to stay there for a while because there's no way I can get to it and if I try to move the stove at this moment I just know that some new evil will befall me. I finally can take no more of the squiggling, so I lay Liam down in his crib despite his intense protests.
I have now finished a fourth paragraph. I realize everything I've written thus far is disjointed and stream-of-consciousness, so I begin re-ordering things. Ivan, the six year-old, comes to inform me that Alex has stolen my iPad and is playing games on it. He hands the confiscated device to me and Alex appears seconds later, asking about what Ivan told me. I tell him, and I inform him that he will not be playing games during school. He repeats the question "but WHY?" infinity-hundred times as I attempt to peck out another sentence. Finally, just as I feel that I'm about to experience a life-ending aneurysm, I clamp my hand over his mouth and tell him that I don't have to explain myself to him, followed by a completely irrational attempt to do just that in the hopes that he will just. stop. talking. He does. I experience much rejoicing.
I realize that all of the children have disappeared out the back door. I find them all down by the driveway in various states of dress, throwing rocks. Fantastic idea. I tell them I don't want all the landscaping in the driveway then quickly go inside before I have to enforce anything.
I hear the triumphant music of the potty chair. Jude has made no puddle this time, but actually went to the bathroom where he is supposed to. He yells out, "I did it!" and I congratulate him with as much sincerity as my divided attention will allow.
Liam is screaming again. He has been asleep for less than half an hour. I want to scream, too. I absently wonder if Jude is scaling yet another kitchen edifice to award himself with chocolate for his bathroom accomplishments.
I acknowledge defeat. I will write no more this day. I had planned to make a quick, unhealthy lunch and then launch into the afternoon's lessons, but Liam has decided to make any such attempt impossible. It occurs to me that the dishwasher replacement will be here within the hour, so the kitchen will be out of commission until then. It also occurs to me that in only one hour's time, I have to go make the second run to my daughter's school to pick her up. When I come back from that, it will be time for figuring out what the heck to make for dinner, which I swear I just did yesterday. Luckily, I've left some things to defrost so there's a small victory, at least. I did not, however, complete any of the tasks I had placed on my mental to do list this morning, and probably won't.
I can't believe I'm out of bourbon.
I finally retrieve Liam, who is not going back to sleep, and return with him to my desk. My children are complaining of hunger. Do I actually have to feed them today?
I was going to continue, but it's death by a hundred whiny requests in here. For reasons I can't fully explain, my desk has somehow spontaneously piled up with shoes and baby toys, and I can barely move my hands through the clutter to type.
I know one thing: my wife did this on her own for years, and even started running a business at the same time. She is a superhero. She did so much more, and she did it so much better than I do. In fact, I just re-read this, and I realize that despite the title, I never even got to actually homeschooling today. I'd tell you maybe I'll just do it later, but who am I kidding, really? The evening won't be any less chaotic. We'll just have to play catch-up.
Sure, I'll get better at this with time. My wife reminds me frequently that she's been doing it for 10 years. Even so, this is no job for the faint of heart. Men, if your wives are doing most of the heavy lifting on homeschooling, housecleaning, meal making, and overall home-running-without-burning-downing, don't you dare put your feet up when you get home. Did you have a stressful day? So did she. Unless you routinely take your entire brood for a whole day without her there for backup, you probably have no idea what it's like.
So pitch in. Unclamp the kids from her body. Bathe them — they're sure to be sticky somewhere. Read them bedtime stories, preferably with funny voices. Cage them if necessary. It's good for you and them to spend that time together anyway. But it also helps you to let your wife know how much you appreciate what she is doing for your family by giving her a much-needed break. I don't care if you're a professional rocket surgeon who commutes 3 hours each day. I used to work full time in an office with all the attendant stresses of management and difficult customers, and this is definitely the more challenging work. And the outcome is far more important.
Homeschooling moms are in a thankless profession tackling at least two full time jobs: teacher and mother, to say nothing of housecleaner and chef and COO. They are unappreciated by a world who thinks they should be working, and quite possibly by those who don't know all that they do and think it must be easy just because they make it look easy. So I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you — first and foremost to my own wife, who is nothing short of amazing — but to you other moms too. You are doing the vital work of teaching the next generation how to think critically, how to explore and learn and grow, and how to be the salt of the earth in a society that has lost its way. You are on the front lines of the culture war, and your yoke is not easy, your burden not light.
But it is so tremendously worthwhile.


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Cape Canaveral, FL – NASA scientists are doing their best to tell us where a plummeting six-ton satellite will fall later this week. It's just that if they're off a little bit, it could mean the difference between hitting Florida or landing on New York. Or, say, Iran or India.
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Pinpointing where and when hurtling space debris will strike is an imprecise science. For now, scientists predict the earliest it will hit is Thursday U.S. time, the latest Saturday. The strike zone covers most of Earth.
Not that citizens need to take cover. The satellite will break into pieces, and NASA put the chances that somebody somewhere will get hurt at just 1-in-3,200.
As far as anyone knows, falling space debris has never injured anyone. Nor has significant property damage been reported. That's because most of the planet is covered in water and there are vast regions of empty land.
If you do come across what you suspect is a satellite piece, NASA doesn't want you to pick it up. The space agency says there are no toxic chemicals present, but there could be sharp edges. Also, it's government property. It's against the law to keep it as a souvenir or sell it on eBay. NASA's advice is to report it to the police.
The 20-year-old research satellite is expected to break into more than 100 pieces as it enters the atmosphere, most of it burning up. Twenty-six of the heaviest metal parts are expected to reach Earth, the biggest chunk weighing about 300 pounds. The debris could be scattered over an area about 500 miles long.
Jonathan McDowell, for one, isn't worried. He is in the potential strike zone — along with most of the world's 7 billion citizens. McDowell is with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.
"There's stuff that's heavy that falls out of the sky almost every year," McDowell says. So far this year, he noted, two massive Russian rocket stages have taken the plunge.
As for the odds of the satellite hitting someone, "it's a small chance. We take much bigger chances all the time in our lives," McDowell says. "So I'm not putting my tin helmet on or hiding under a rock."
All told, 1,200 pounds of wreckage is expected to smack down — the heaviest pieces made of titanium, stainless steel or beryllium. That represents just one-tenth the mass of the satellite, which stretches 35 feet long and 15 feet in diameter.
The strike zone straddles all points between latitudes 57 degrees north and 57 degrees south. That's as far north as Edmonton and Alberta, Canada, and Aberdeen, Scotland, and as far south as Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America. Every continent but Antarctica is in the crosshairs.
Back when UARS, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, was launched to study the ozone layer in 1991, NASA didn't always pay attention to the "what goes up must come down" rule. Nowadays, satellites must be designed either to burn up on re-entering the atmosphere or to have enough fuel to be steered into a watery grave or up into a higher, long-term orbit.
The International Space Station — the largest manmade structure ever to orbit the planet — is no exception. NASA has a plan to bring it down safely sometime after 2020.
Russia's old Mir station came down over the Pacific, in a controlled re-entry, in 2001. But one of its predecessors, Salyut 7, fell uncontrolled through the atmosphere in 1991. The most recent uncontrolled return of a large NASA satellite was in 2002.
The most sensational case of all was Skylab, the early U.S. space station whose impending demise three decades ago alarmed people around the world and touched off a guessing game as to where it might land. It plummeted harmlessly into the Indian Ocean and onto remote parts of Australia in July 1979.
The $740 million UARS was decommissioned in 2005, after NASA lowered its orbit with the little remaining fuel on board. NASA didn't want to keep it up longer than necessary, for fear of a collision or an exploding fuel tank, either of which would have left a lot of space litter.
Predicting where the satellite will strike is a little like predicting the weather several days out, says NASA orbital debris scientist Mark Matney.
Experts expect to have a good idea by Thursday of when and where UARS might fall, Matney says. They won't be able to pinpoint the exact time, but they should be able to narrow it to a few hours.
Given the spacecraft's orbital speed of 17,500 mph, or 5 miles per second, a prediction that is off by just a few minutes could mean a 1,000-mile error. It probably won't be clear where it fell until afterward, Matney says.
If it happens in darkness, it should be visible.
"If someone is lucky enough to be near the re-entry at nighttime, they'll get quite a show," says Matney, who works at Johnson Space Center in Houston, also in the potential strike zone.
Space junk in general is on the rise, much of it destroyed or broken satellites and chunks of used rockets. More than 20,000 manmade objects at least 4 inches in diameter are being tracked in orbit.
It's mostly a threat to astronauts in space, rather than people on Earth. In June, the six residents of the International Space Station took shelter in their docked Soyuz lifeboats because of passing debris. The unidentified object came within 1,100 feet of the complex, the closest call yet.
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/uars/index.html